World Baseball Classic recap: Netherlands advances on walk-off walk

It’s time once again for a recap of the last 24 hours of World Baseball Classic games. There were a few nail-biters, so let’s get started.

Cuba 6, China 0
And we’re getting started with the non-nail-biting game of the group. Cuba, who lost to Japan the previous day, was looking to get back to winning, and they were able to do it. China put up a good showing, however. They didn’t score any runs, but their pitching, as thin as it is, kept things under control for most of the game. Bruce Chen, who started the game for China, pitched two scoreless innings, so if you ever wanted to see that particular retired ballplayer pitch again, that was your chance.

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Despite China’s efforts on pitching, this game was all Cuba. And Yoelkis Cespedes was at it again. He singled, scored, and drove in a run. As a team, Cuba hit six doubles, though only one of them came in their four-run fourth inning. They hit no home runs, but bounced back well after their opening loss to Japan.

Japan 4, Australia 1
This one was a nail-biter through the middle innings. Here’s an example: tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Australia had the bases loaded with just one out. The pitcher for Japan, Toshiya Okada, had just walked the first batter he faced. After two balls, the batter, James Beresford, smacked the ball up the middle of the diamond, setting up a bam-bam double play that got Japan out of the inning. It was tense and exciting.

More exciting, however, were the two home runs that Japan hit, which secured them the win over Australia. One came in the top of the seventh, a solo shot from Sho Nakata that broke the 1-1 tie, and one came in the top of the eighth, a towering two-run jack from Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh. This brings Japan to 2-0 in the tournament, at the top of Pool B.

Netherlands 6, Chinese Taipei 5
This is the most surprising and exciting of all the games. Chinese Taipei, who was not expected to do much in this WBC tournament at all, hung in with the Netherlands and their outstanding infield until the bottom of the ninth inning. In fact, Chinese Taipei led 5-4 from the fifth inning until the eighth, when the Netherlands tied it up thanks to a double from Didi Gregorius (more on him in a just a second). Given how solid Chinese Taipei had been, it looked like the game would head to extra-innings, but then things fell apart. A fielding error from Chinese Taipei started the ninth off badly, and that was followed by a hit-by-pitch and a single. With the bases loaded and no outs, Jurickson Profar drew the rarest kind of walk: a walk-off walk, which put the Netherlands up 6-5 to end the game.

There’s no question about the star of this game: it was Didi Gregorius of the New York Yankees. Gregorious hit three (!!) doubles (which happened to be the only extra base hits the Dutch would hit all game), brought in three of the team’s six runs, tied things up in the eighth inning, and even found time to sign autographs. Gregorius was the difference maker in this win, which solidified the top two seeds in Pool A, which means the Netherlands and Israel are both advancing to the next round.

MUST-SEE PLAY
It’s hard not to pick something from the Japan game, since it featured two homers and one of the most enthusiastic, ecstatic home crowds I’ve ever seen. Watching them makes me want to go to Japan and see some live baseball, because it looks positively electric. Here’s the home run that broke the 1-1 tie from the Japan-Australia game.

(The home run that put Japan up 4-1 is also fantastic, with a great call to boot.)

WHAT’S NEXT?
We’ve only seen games from two pools so far, Pool A and Pool B. And this is the last day that will be true.

• Netherlands vs. Israel (Pool A Game 5, Seoul): Wednesday 3/8, 10pm ET, MLB Network and MLB.TV

• Korea vs. Chinese Taipei (Pool A Game 6, Seoul): Thursday 3/9, 4:30am ET, MLB.TV (MLB Network will show this game on tape delay at 8am ET)

• Australia vs. China (Pool B Game 4, Tokyo): Thursday 3/9, 5am ET, MLB Network and MLB.TV

Starting Thursday night, Pool C and Pool D finally get into the mix, and the WBC will be in full swing. Get ready, folks.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher